


Take In, Bleed Out

by PAPERSK1N



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Angst, Badass!Meg, F/M, Fake AH Crew, GTA V!Au, GTAV - Freeform, Guns, I miss turnwood i miss it i miss it, Los Santos, Mentions of Sex, Past Relationships Mentioned - Freeform, Raywood, Ryan the Vagabond guy, Ryan the hero guy, Trauma, Violence, gang life, gun - Freeform, mentions of past raywood, some mentioned torture, turnwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-07-27 04:51:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7604170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PAPERSK1N/pseuds/PAPERSK1N
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When in need of a new, temporary recruit for an in-and-out bank job, Geoff turned to Lindsay to find him a warm body worthy of the Fake AH Crew's prestigious (moronic) reputation. Lindsay exceeded his expectations with Meg Turney- an all around bad-ass ex-assassin with a history as detailed as the crusades and as complicated to boot.</p><p>The rest of the crew love her, instantly. The Vagabond however... he doesn't seem so sure.</p><p>Why does Ryan look away when Meg walks into the room? Why does he turn quiet whenever she speaks? Why does he avoid them- all of them, like a rodent, scurrying away into his dark little bedroom every time he catches sight of her in the halls?</p><p>Wait... Ryan doesn't... <em>know</em> Meg? Does he?</p><p> Complete</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> New turnwood fic! Because, I miss those crazy kids almost as much as I miss Free Play every Wednesday and Friday.

Chapter One

 

 

 

Meg glanced up from the papers in front of her when she heard the door to the penthouse click open. Michael and Jack were still mid-way through their excited conversation, speaking loudly and without much more than a nod in her and Geoff’s direction. They continued walking straight down the corridor towards the bedrooms as they spoke, and Meg’s eyes drifted briefly to the shadowy figure lurking behind them.

“Hi Ryan.” Geoff called out, waving. Ryan reached towards his covered face and dragged his beloved skull mask off until it was limp between his fingers. Meg took note that he had only gone for the black eye make-up that job, rather than the full face. Must’ve been an easy one.

“Hi Geoff.” Ryan nodded. Then, after a lengthy paused, he licked his lips nervously. “Meg.” He greeted her.

Meg bit the inside of her cheek, and forced her eyes back down to her paperwork. She said nothing, didn’t dare look over in his direction until she heard the disappointed shuffling of feet against the polished wooden floors and then, Geoff’s sigh.

He was itching to say something, she could see that by the way he had suddenly starting shifting in his chair and glancing around the room, unable to focus his eyes on anything particular. Considering he was the leader of a notoriously elusive gang, Geoff was concerningly easy to read.

“Spit it out.” She said. Geoff sighed again.

“Meg, look- you know I like you-”

“-If this is about Ryan, I don’t want to hear it.” Meg continued kept her eyes fixed on the paper map of Los Santos and briefly held one finger up towards Geoff’s face. Daring, considering she’d barely known him a few months and Geoff was- to the outside word- terrifying. However, he only smirked and rolled his eyes and then, when she forced herself to glance up over the rims of her glasses, whine.

“ _Meg_.”

“I mean it.” She narrowed her eyes briefly enough to glare at him but without the malice to linger before looking back down to the heist notes they were working on. “I don’t want to talk about him.” She added, after a pause.

“He’s a nice guy!” Geoff, as usual, was nothing if not persistent and child-like in his technique- leaning across the table on his elbows and kicking his feet up across the floor like an oversized toddler. “I mean, yeah- there’s the whole creepy _skeletor_ mask _and_ the whole Mad King thing but… he’s one of the good-bad guys.” He batted his eyelashes and jutted his lower lip out towards her. “You should really give him a chance. You could even be friends.”

Meg sighed, placed the pen down on top of the map and reached to take another sip from her whiskey. It was becoming a habit, sitting with Geoff in the main room of the penthouse with half a bottle of expensive whiskey, some highlighters and the TV. They rarely got half the work they wanted to done, but always managed to finish the alcohol. Geoff watched with a distantly impressed stare as she finished the rest of the drink with her head knocked back, and then when she straightened, she didn’t break stare.

“I gave Ryan a chance a long time ago, Geoff. That’s all I have to say about it.”

Geoff didn’t have much to say after that.

 

* * *

 

 

_Several Months Previous_

* * *

 

 

It had all started, coincidentally enough, with one Lindsay Tuggey.

She was a vital member of what Geoff cruelly described as _The B Team_ , a small local-based sub division of the Fake AH Crew that took on smaller jobs and more often than not- cleaned up their messes when they got a little too excited and peed all over the city streets.

Lindsay was a good gatherer- the concrete jungle they lived and worked in could be as vast and never-ending as the internet to a person who didn’t know the right places to look. Lindsay Tuggey was certainly someone who knew the right places to look, so when Geoff needed a temporary new member who could be moved in at pretty short notice _and_ knew a thing or two about bank heisting, Lindsay was the person for the job.

Barely a week later she returned to him with one of her many contacts. This one apparently had three bank jobs under her belt, a confirmed kill list longer than his right arm and a taste for video games and fantasy. Geoff didn’t hesitate before dialling her number- it was rare enough to find someone with the required skill set, let alone someone who could simultaneously be just as nerdy and pathetic as the rest of the crew.

“Thanks Lindsay.” He smiled. “She better be as good as you say.”

Lindsay just looked at him with a vague sort of smirk across her face that read exactly as she intended it to. “Please.” She scoffed. “When have I _ever_ steered you wrong?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Geoff lead the crew into the penthouse with one hand tucked lazily in his blood stained tuxedo pocket. Michael was babbling about something behind him, but he had learned quickly how to tune the kid out when he got too talkative. Plus, Gavin was there as usual to sate him and annoy the others with his ridiculous hypotheticals and penchant for picking arguments out of nothing.

Jack was involved too for once, yelling and laughing along with _the lads_ as Ryan followed silently at the back of the pack. They strolled together into the main room of the large sky-scraper apartment, Michael and Gavin immediately fighting each other for the armchair, Jack cracking the beers and Ryan glancing around the room suspiciously with his gun twitching between his fingers.

“What?” Geoff asked, frowning. Ryan looked across to him briefly, eyes stark white and blue inside the rings of smudged black face paint. As usual- he looked completely insane. Geoff knew Ryan well enough to know that he was actually quite far from it.

“Someone’s here.” He said, voice low. Geoff’s hand immediately flew to the back of his pants to clutch his gun on instinct as Michael and Gavin quietened on the sofa and glanced around the apartment, searching for the apparent threat.

“You really think someone’s here?” Jack asked, picking up his silver pistol from the counter.

Ryan crept across the length of the wall, crouching around the edge with his gun firm and unshaking between his hands. “I’m sure of it.” He said.

“You’d be right.”

Geoff watched as Ryan’s head whipped around to the opposite side of the vast room. The corner leading towards the spiral staircase was shadowy, but Geoff could hear the clack of heeled boots on the glossy wooden floor before a figure stepped into view, a smirk on her painted lips and sparkling chrome gun rested comfortably in her dainty hands.

Immediately, every gun in the room was cocked and pointed in her direction as she slowly raised her hands above her head, resting her gun against the back of her vibrant purple hair.

“Boys please- put the toys away.” Another voice said from the front door. Geoff looked around to see Lindsay enter the room casually with a beer in her hand, smiling at them all. “This is Meg- or _Doll_ as some people know her.” She gestured back towards Meg, who nodded excitedly. “Sorry.” Lindsay apologised. “She just can’t resist a dramatic entrance.”

That was the first encounter Geoff ever had with Meg Turney. And he had to give it to the girl- she had impressed him on their very first meeting, something that few people ever did.

Lindsay had clearly known Meg for a long time, hugging her tightly when they met in the centre of the penthouse. They did what all the girls Geoff knew did- complimented each other on their outfits (Meg was wearing a skin tight black cat suit with heeled boots, Lindsay was wearing a wonder-woman dress with a grey hoodie, sneakers and a beanie) complimented each other on their guns, (Meg’s was chrome and engraved with words he couldn’t make out from across the room, Lindsay’s was gold and had the crew emblem stamped into the bottom) and hugged again, before they turned and Lindsay introduced Meg to the rest of the group.

“I will say, she’s a little out of your league boys.” Lindsay smirked. “Meg’s more of a contract killer than a gang member.”

“I’m just looking to take it easy for a year or two.” Meg shrugged, confident smirk playing on her lips as she locked eyes with Geoff briefly. “You know- run with a crew, do a little heisting and take a nice cut at the end. No big deal.”

“Perfect.” Jack nodded, extending a beer which Meg refused politely. “You seem to be exactly what we’re looking for. Experienced and professional.”

“Unlike these assholes.” Geoff added, nodding towards Michael and Gavin.

“Whatever.” Michael flipped him off with a grin. “Don’t worry Gav, he’s just jealous of our good looks.”

“Yeah.” Lindsay rolled her eyes. “That must be it. Come on Meg.” She bumped the other girl with her shoulder. “I’ll show you to your new room.”

“I’ll come with!” Gavin stood, following both the girls out of the room until just Geoff, Jack, Michael and a still silent Ryan were left.

“So- she’s fucking _awesome_ , can we all agree on that?” Jack asked with a laugh, sipping from his beer. Michael nodded.

“Yeah- she seems pretty cool.” He agreed. “What’d you think of her?” he stood up from the sofa and walked over to pick up a beer from Jack, looking over his shoulder to Ryan, who was now silently leant against the wall with the barrel of his gun tapping rhythmically against his thigh. His eyes were fixed to the ground, clearly distracted and only alerted when Geoff cleared his throat loudly.

“Sorry.” He mumbled. “What’d you say?”

“Said, what do you think of her?” Michael repeated, louder. Ryan gripped his gun a little tighter before raising it to his head, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

“She’s…” he paused for a second, looking off absentmindedly into the corner of the ceiling before dragging his eyes back down the walls and again to the floor. “She’s something.” He finished, shrugging vaguely before wandering silently across the room and up the stairs towards his bedroom. As he turned, Geoff watched as Michael and Jack exchanged a confused look and shrugged when their eyes pointed to him questioningly.

“How am I supposed to know what crawled up his ass?” he scoffed. “It’s Ryan- he’s probably on his murder-period. He’ll get over it.”

“He’s probably got a crush on her.” Jack joked. “He seemed pretty speechless.”

“It’s Ryan.” Michael rolled his eyes. “He’s always fucking speechless.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Ryan bit his lip anxiously as he rounded the corner that would lead him to his bedroom, hands clenching around the gun in his grip. Suddenly, the penthouse had started feeling a little too warm and clammy with Geoff’s glances and Michael’s suffocating questions until he knew he had to get out- and get as far away from Meg Turney as possible.

How had he become so devastatingly unlucky to have _her_ \- of all the talent in the city- show up on their doorstep? He must’ve been someone considerably more awful than he already was in a past life.

Ryan sighed, annoyed and uncomfortable as he made his way into his dark bedroom, shrugging off his jacket and dropping his gun to the dresser as the sensor lights came up. He looked in the mirror and caught sight of what was behind him with a frown, itching for a second to reach back for his gun as Meg Turney waved, sat with her legs crossed atop his bed.

The front of her cat-suit was zipped down to reveal part of her chest. Not that Ryan was looking, or anything.

“How’d you give Gavin and Lindsay the slip?” he asked. She shrugged and smirked at him, and Ryan wondered not for the first time how she made the simplest of body movements seem so flirtatious.

“They were done with me pretty quickly. Besides, this apartment is _huge_. Pretty easy for a girl to take a wrong turn.” She batted her eyelashes at him playfully, and he fixed his gaze to the wall behind her, gripping his fists by his sides.

“Funny.” He huffed. “Didn’t think a girl like you’d get lost so easily.”

Meg rolled her eyes, and straightened her back. “Cut the foreplay Ryan,” her tone became flat, and she pulled the zipper of her cat-suit up slightly. Ryan dared to look at her again, and thankfully, her expression was only one of distaste and boredom. Perhaps she was feeling just as unlucky as he was. “I’m here for business rather than pleasure.”

Ryan couldn’t resist. He smirked, and muttered under his breath, “Wouldn’t be the first time the two managed to mix.”

She glared at him. “Stop it.”

Ryan held his hands up, but the mask of a pleased smirk didn’t dissipate. Meg stood, easily intimidating despite being almost an entire foot shorter than him.

“Look, I don’t want to be friends- not by any means.” She folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes irritated at him as he looked. “But, I also don’t like people knowing my business so if we could keep things professional and not awkward that would be great.”

“Fine by me.” Ryan nodded, extending a hand. “I’ll be looking forwards to working with you, Ms Turney.”

She looked between his hand and his eyes briefly, before rolling her own and sauntering out of the room, pulling the door closed behind her. Once she was out of sight, Ryan leant against the dresser and tried to feel relieved.

He knew- better than anyone that inter-crew relationships never worked out. He’d made the mistake twice- two times too many.

He wasn’t going there. Not at all.

Never again.

 


	2. Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan struggles to keep away from Meg. Geoff conjures up the wild theory that he MUST have a thing for her. Ryan wishes it was that simple.

Chapter Two

Meg really didn’t help him out with the whole… ‘not going there’ thing.

It was infuriating- but then, she wasn’t really doing anything at all. Just Meg, generally being herself was stressful enough to live with. He was so sick of the _sight_ of her- strutting around the apartment in skin tight cat-suits with her bright purple hair and gleaming white teeth. None of it was ever going to help her blend into any kind of crew, or ever work on the run- but then, Meg had never worried about blending in a day in her life.

“Why blend in when you were born to stand out?” She’d joked to him one day, back when they knew each other. He had thought about it ever since, and the stupid old lyric still maintained its truth.

Everything about Meg was special in some way. Her guns were almost as shiny as the lipstick she wore on her face, and every part of him begged to be near her at all times. The only competent part of him (his brain) somehow managed to wrangle the rest in and kept his self-control intact, but she certainly didn’t make it simple.

It would’ve been easier if she was as stand-offish with everybody else as she was with him. But no- Meg had always been the social butterfly when they worked for _The Know_ , so of course she just got on _swimmingly_ well with everyone in the crew. She was near impossible to avoid- because she was always everywhere with everyone. Ryan couldn’t turn a corner past his own bedroom without running into her, working her charms on someone that wasn’t him.

She frustrated him, but Ryan did his best to hold it in. He’d always been known in the crew as a little bit of an elusive type, so he did his best to keep to himself and didn’t see the light outside of his bedroom most hours of the day. It was starting to become noticeable, because Gavin kept making little jibes about him building some kind of robot friend to talk to and Jack kept watching him with worried eyes.

Their concern irritated him because he didn’t know how to avoid it. There was always the truth- but that wasn’t a can of worms he was willing to go into. Ryan didn’t mind lying, but for some reason when it came to his crew mates it felt wrong. He’s grown unfortunately fond of them over the past two years, and it was starting to become a hindrance.

It wasn’t until Geoff started to notice the spike in his brooding personality was something done about it. He was still committed to the ridiculous theory that Ryan actually _had a thing_ for Meg- which obviously wasn’t true even a tiny, miniscule amount. Not even a dash. Nor a sprinkle. Even with their complicated, ever-weaving history.

Ryan ignored Geoff’s stupid ideals, putting them down to a deadly mix of too much liquor poisoning both his liver and his brain. Geoff wouldn’t actually _do_ anything about it. He was all bark and no bite.

Or at least, that was what Ryan had assumed. That was, until the day he was sent out on a surveillance mission of the casino they were robbing with none other than Meg Turney, and instructed to ‘babysit’. In their industry, ‘babysit’ meant to sit outside a building or a target for hours upon hours, and monitor as much information about them as possible. It was always done in pairs- because two heads were better than one and sometimes, a friendly bit of bickering was far less psychologically damaging than stinging loneliness.

The silence in the car was more than a little tense. Meg watched the roads pass by in a blur out of the passenger window and Ryan watched the road stretching ahead when she turned to stare at him, thinking he couldn’t see. In turn, whenever she would look back to the window, he would set one eye her and silently plead for something to make conversation.

“You’ve got a tail light out.” She said, after a tense half an hour of silence as they watched the casino for security cameras and guard shifts.

“How long ago did you notice that?” Ryan asked, surprised. He took pride in his cars almost as much as he did his skillset.

“When we left. It’s been bugging me this whole journey.”

“My apologies for causing such aggravation.” He joked, and thankfully, Meg laughed.

“Hey,” she said, after a brief pause. “Remember that pick-up truck we used to have?”

“With _no_ fucking air conditioning!” Ryan finished. “God yes. It was so awful.”

“And,” Meg laughed again, Ryan savouring every moment of the sound. Meg’s laugh was something special, short and pleasant and always genuine. If he could, he’d bottle it and keep it forever to listen to on nights when he was lonely. Up to that point, he’d only listened to it from the safe distance of his bedroom as she fraternized with the rest of the crew in the living room. It was elating, sitting there in the driver’s seat as she laughed beside him, knowing it was his doing.

“-and you used to insist on driving it around with your stupid skull mask on! Every car we passed thought you were a fucking _ghost_ ; I swear to God!”

Ryan blinked, realising he had drifted off halfway through her speaking, more than content to listen to the pleasant buzz of her voice rather than make conversation. “That was the intention!” He stumbled along as best as he could, hoping she wouldn’t notice. “I enjoy driving fear into the souls of the public, sue me.”

“I’m sure they thought you were kidnapping me-”

“-Probably. Still, the sushi guy _loved_ it.”

“He thought you were _cosplaying_.” Meg reminded him. “Besides. His sushi was fucking _awesome_.”

“Not as good as that other place.” Ryan replied, shifting so they could face each other just as Meg did the same. It was an old habit they used to have, mirroring each other’s posture accidentally. Meg had always teased that they were far to in sync from spending too much time together, but Ryan had always silently wondered if maybe, they were just destined to be alike.

“The one in Australia?” Meg asked excitedly. Ryan nodded.

“Oh God! That place was so good-”

“- _So good_.” Meg repeated, laughing again. Ryan joined in, and they both stopped at the same time, eyes settling on one another for the first time in what felt like a lifetime too long. Meg’s eyes had always been so beautiful to him, a rich golden-brown that sparkled in the sunlight and swallowed darkness in the night. He was silent, searching them for every detail to see if they were exactly the same as he remembered whilst she did the same in his, both focused on nothing but each other until a motorbike sped past them, almost clipping the front bumped.

They both looked over, but the driver was already done. The moment was over, and Ryan remembered that the world was still spinning around the bubble of just him-and-her. The car quickly grew tense again after that. Ryan wondered if she was as afraid as he was at how easy they had slipped back into their old Free-Play double act, despite the years that had passed in-between.

“We, uh…” he started, but the words in his head couldn’t find order or sense, so he closed his mouth again. Meg stared straight ahead, at the casino they were supposed to be studying.

“They’ve got a four-guard system.” She said stoically. “Rotor that changes every half hour. That should be all we need.”

“Right.” Ryan swallowed awkwardly, turning the key in the engine so the car quietly roared back to life and the reignited spark between them died out as quickly as it had flickered on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and I hope you're enjoying it so far! See you all again soon! Kudos and Comments appreciated and HMU on tumblr for anything @ PAPERSK1N.tumblr.com.
> 
> Q: How long will Ryan last keeping away from Meg? How long will she last keeping away from him? What are your suspicions regarding the two of them?
> 
> Answer in the comments below!


	3. Part Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan has some news for Geoff, who reacts in a way nobody else expects. Ryan hopes it'll help. He's wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know I said I'd update every week. I'm the worst. 
> 
> (Weekly updates resuming from now and on forever and ever)

The moment his car was parked in the garage and Meg had sulked away to her bedroom, Ryan knew that the first thing he needed to do, was talk to Geoff.

Their boss was holed up in the war room with Jack as usual, silently studying over plans when Ryan entered in a frenzy, not doing much more than playing with his mask in his hands and muttering Meg’s name quietly.

“What?” Geoff whined. “I don’t have time for girlfriend issues Ryan. I’ve got work to do.” He pointed at the map. Ryan huffed.

“Look- I just can’t work with her, okay?”

“W-”

“-And, you can’t ask why.” Ryan folded his arms defiantly over his chest, looking from Jack to Geoff and back again. Geoff’s eyes were downcast and avoidant, but Jack had no fear of questioning in his gaze, pausing to tilt his head at Ryan briefly.

“Seriously?” he asked. “What is it with you, dude?”

“Leave it Jack.” Geoff said, surprising both others in the room. Unbeknownst to them both, all he could think of was the conversation he had shared with Meg the night before.

 _“I gave Ryan a chance a long time ago, Geoff. That’s all I have to say about it.”_ Rang through his mind and guilt tore at his stomach. It was risky, pairing Meg and Ryan together. He’d be lucky to wake up with his balls the next morning if Meg had as much of a fascination with creative torture as Ryan did.

“Geoff-”

“-I said leave it!” Geoff snapped. “If skully over here wants to act the asshole, fine. We’ve got work to do- I don’t have time to watch a soap opera unfold in my damn apartment. It’s whatever.” He dismissed, before staring back up at Ryan. “We finished here?”

Ryan nodded. “Yeah.” He said quietly. “We’re finished.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

In the following weeks after his talk with Geoff and Jack, Ryan really did his best to stay away from Meg completely.

Avoidance was an understatement. The others had quickly noticed how the second Ryan saw Meg in the hallway he would spin on his heel and all but jog in the other direction. They noticed how Ryan never showed up for table dinners when she was there, instead taking his meals directly to his room and didn’t come out until long after sunset. And there had been that one time, when Gavin had seen Ryan right in the middle of a workout literally run from the home-gym the moment Meg walked in with her personalised matching towel and plastic water bottle combo.

However, every time one of them wanted to ask, Geoff would slowly shake his head and they would pretend it was forgotten. Meg herself didn’t like the others to let her think she was too bothered about it, but Michael had seen the longing stares down the corridor to Ryan’s bedroom and the way she wouldn’t go to bed on nights he was working until she heard him rush behind her silently and head off to his room.

The penthouse hadn’t been tenser since the day Gavin covered the blade of Jack’s razor with superglue.

Ryan was obviously doing his absolute best to resist all contact with Meg completely, and to the crew it seemed to be working excellently. However, to Ryan, he could feel himself slowly slipping, like a junkie avoiding relapse. To credit himself- Meg really didn’t make it easy to be avoided. She was constantly _everywhere_ , because she was just _so wonderful_ and everyone wanted to be around her. Ryan would sit silently and simmer in his own anger every time she winked at Lindsay or let Gavin touch her waist. His fists would clench when she would lean against Michael on the couch or stroke her fingers up and down Geoff’s tattoo’s languidly on late nights. There was that one time in the kitchen where she’d even batted her eyelashes at Jack when asking him to reach the self-raising flour they kept on the top shelf because she wanted to bake a cake and Ryan had dropped a full pint glass of diet coke, smashing it to pieces across the floor.

It was building, slowly. He could feel it inside- all those stupid little moments feeding into his own jealousy. He had no right to be jealous, and he knew that- it only made him angrier. He knew he couldn’t want Meg and refused to let himself do so, but every time he even had the slightest suspicion that somebody else did- rage took over.

“You alright there Ryan?” Gavin asked, a little sheepishly. Ryan blinked a few times and noticed that he was hanging onto his throwing knife with a death grip, sat at the far end of the living room behind the small bar. He had been sitting there for a while, staring with white hot intensity at the collection of sofas in the centre of the room.

Meg, Michael and Geoff were sat watching _Always Sunny_ , as they often were. However, when Meg had walked over to join them, Geoff had tugged her down by the hand and pulled her half into his lap, short slender legs tucked over his comfortably. It was a friendly enough gesture- obviously Geoff didn’t have any of _those_ intentions towards Meg whatsoever, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to grab the boss by the hairs of his moustache and throw him out the gleaming, giant windows.

Ryan looked at Gavin, and then back over to the scene in the living room. Without words, or much thought of anything- he reached back and sent his knife spinning across the room where it embedded itself perfectly in the crystal bottle of scotch sat on the coffee table, making it shatter instantly.

“Ryan, what the _fuck_!?” Michael yelled, jumping up and backwards away from the glass just as Meg and Geoff did the same, matching expressions of complete astonishment.

“Ryan! That was an eight hundred fucking dollar bottle of fucking scotch! Have you lost your God-damn mind?” hollered Geoff.

Ryan said nothing. Without even sparing a glance over to the scene of his outburst, he stood and zipped his jacket tightly, before wandering off towards the front door and heading out of the apartment.


	4. Part Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan goes to blow off some steam. Meg follows.

The old skate-park in the far north of the city wasn’t much of a skate-park anymore. If anything, these days, it was more of a home for the hobos of Los Santos, where they gathered in their groups around oil can fires and makeshift shelters. Ryan would head down there when he was feeling particularly angst-y or annoyed to murder or simply, to sit and watch from a bench just outside the park.

 _Murder, or observer?_ He pondered. _Which will be which?_

Meg _had_ made him pretty furious after all, so maybe a refreshing murder would cleanse the vengeful edge inside his mind. It was the easiest and only option, short of taking Meg out in the middle of the night whilst she was sleeping and solving the problem himself. But then, he could never do that- Meg was far too beautiful and far too talented to be taken out in such a cowardly display. Meg carried a strange sort of aged, wise youthfulness about her at all times- that sometimes Ryan forgot she wouldn’t simply live for ever. One day, Meg would go down- and almost certainly, she would go down fighting.

Ryan turned when he heard the familiar roaring of a motorcycle pull up behind him.

“Gavin, I swear to God if you don’t leave me alone I’ll stab _you_ instead of one of these hobos.”

“Not Gavin-” Meg said, shooting a sheepish smile in Ryan’s direction as he turned. She took his breath away, as always- a dark gleaming mirrored helmet tucked under her arm. Behind her, leant on its stand was a hefty black motorcycle he hadn’t seen before rather than Gavin’s pathetic little green dirt-bike. Meg was dressed in her usual leathers, vibrant hair spilling around her shoulders and glowing over the dark fabric.

“Don’t kill anyone, Ryan.” She said. “You know how it grates on your conscience.”

“Maybe it doesn’t anymore.” He hummed, not bothering to stand just in case he forgot himself, grabbing a fistful of that silky head and snapping her beautiful slender neck. “Maybe I’ve changed.” He settled for wringing his hands together over his lap. It wasn’t quite as satisfying, but it would do.

“Maybe.” She shrugged, pretending not to notice his anxiousness. “But forgive me if I don’t believe it. Now, are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

“You need to leave.” He stood up, folding his arms tightly. “You need to just… leave the crew because I can’t have you here.”

Meg’s face screwed up so tightly and so quickly, that Ryan went over the words in his head a thousand times in a single second, just in case he had accidentally called her a bitch and threatened to slit her throat like he would to Gavin in heated moments of disagreement.

“What, this is _my_ fault?” she asked.

“Yes this is your fault!” He frowned, matching her tone. A few homeless people looked up, but two steely glares sent them reeling back into their makeshift camps. “I’ve got a life here Meg- I’ve made a fucking name for myself and I was fucking _happy_ until you decided to show up out of the blue!” all Ryan wanted was for Meg to understand that really, he was far too enthralled by her at every moment to live another day. She was causing a constant stress on his heart and his mind and yes, perhaps he was being unfair. But perhaps he had finally deserved the right to be selfish, just as she had been for years previous.

“I was offered a _job_ with a _crew_ \- it would’ve been idiotic not to take it. It’s a fucking _milk_ _run_ for people like us, Ry. A milk run with a heavy pay-check. How was I supposed to fucking know that you of all people would be in a fucking _crew_? I _thought_ you worked alone.”

He swallowed, tightly. How long had that mantra lasted after he met Meg and realised what it felt to truly rely on someone? Minutes, probably. The moment they had parted, he’d searched for companionship and longed for _family_ , which lead him to Geoff Ramsey. “I did.” He said.

Meg’s glare could’ve sent him into cardiac arrest with the level of rage it carried. “Yeah?” she all but spat. “What happened there then?”

“ _You_ happened.” Ryan replied, truthfully.

“That’s rich.” She scoffed, clearly frustrated as she folded her arms tightly across her chest. Her eyes were dark and watery in the warm night as she looked away from him, up towards the sky with a firm determination not to cry. Meg hated crying. He knew that. “Rich coming from you when you’re the one who dumped _me_.”

“Meg.” Ryan huffed, fist clenching awkwardly by his side. His voice quietened. “It wasn’t like that and you know it.”

“Oh really?” she laughed, harsh and tearfully. “Because I think it was like that, Ryan. I think it was really a lot like that.”

Ryan sighed, and ran his hand through his hair. “You know I never meant to hurt you-”

“-But you did!” She interrupted excitedly. “You were the only person who I _ever_ let in- with your stupid murder and your stupid knife throwing and your stupid fucking ‘I-work-alone’ _bull_. I let you in and I really thought you let me in too-”

“-I did!”

She ignored him. “You fucking threw me overboard Rye. I let you in and in return you broke my heart.” She sniffed to hold back the teary sob that clogged her throat and Ryan watched her, stood completely still as his brain racked itself for a single thing to say that could even possibly make the situation better.

He failed, and Meg looked away.

“You know what, maybe I should leave.”

He didn’t try to stop her.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Ryan didn’t return to the penthouse until the next morning. After blowing up with Meg in the park, the last thing he wanted to do was face her, so he crashed in a safe-house and stalked back up to the apartment when he could no longer bare being alone. He had been unfair to her, both in the past and the now- and the level of guilt he felt was hard to think about.

It wasn’t Meg’s fault that she was so perfect for him- when the last thing he needed was someone else to loose himself in. After Ray, he’d sworn away from becoming attached to people. He loved his crew because they were the family he couldn’t escape from, but nobody else was ever to feel that calibre of love from him. Not again.

“Look at what the fucking cat dragged in.” Geoff grumbled, a little more rage in his sharp tone than usual. “Where’ve you been all night?” he asked, even though he knew.

Ryan ignored the question. “I bought you this.” He waved the large bottle of expensive scotch he’d been carrying in his fist, which Geoff snatched and inspected meticulously. “It’ll do.” He said, after a few seconds of silent reading. “I want new crystal though.”

“I’ll get you your crystal, don’t worry.”

“Where’s Meg?” Michael asked, crunching on a packet of chips as he leant against the breakfast bar where Gavin was sat, sipping from a mug of tea. “Yeah?” The brit added with a smirk. “Both of you… out all night like that. Letting out some frustrations?” he asked, teasingly.

Ryan’s cheeks darkened at the idea. “No- I… I haven’t seen her.” He lied, as a faint sense of worry crept over him. So Meg hadn’t returned at all. Now, there was always a chance that she had crashed in a safe house- but Meg knew the protocols for that. You send a text to Geoff with the codename of your location, just as Ryan had. If Geoff hadn’t received a text, which he was starting to suspect by the worried glaze that fell over his eyes, then something was very wrong. “She didn’t come home?” he asked.

Jack shook his head, and then looked to Geoff. “She didn’t text?”

“No.” Geoff shook his head. “This isn’t good. Gavin- check her room, see if all her stuff is there.”

Gavin set off with Michael in a panic, leaving Ryan and the other two alone in the main reception. Jack and Geoff were looking worriedly between each other and their phones, as Ryan stood guiltily by the door, instantly regretting every single word he’d thrown at her in moments of anger.

“You don’t think she’d just… leave, like that, do you?” Jack asked. Geoff was pensive.

“I… I want to say no. I really do.” He sighed, staring at Ryan. “But… something tells me that maybe… maybe she would.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos, comments etc loved and appreciated as always!!!
> 
> Question: Who's in the wrong? Meg? Ryan? Geoff? Do you think Meg would just up and leave? Is something else far greater at work?


	5. Part Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three days pass. Nobody hears from Meg.

Three days passed without a single word from one Meg Turney.

Emotions in the penthouse were running high. Nobody said it out loud, but Ryan could tell by the suspicious glances and the frowns and the quieting of voices when he entered the room. The only person with motive to hurt Meg, that they knew, had been him. He’d stormed out and she’d followed. He returned the next day and she was now nowhere to be seen.

Surprisingly enough, Ryan did care what his crew thought of him. They knew he was a murderer, and a little on the scrambled side when he needed to be- but he didn’t need them to think he had done the _unthinkable_. Sure, there was a moment in the skate-park where he wondered if Meg would look just as beautiful with a knife in her skull, but he hadn’t actually _done it_.

Had he?

All five of the phones and six of the email addresses he operated under had been set into overdrive, scouring the city through every measly contact he had, asking if they’d seen a flash of purple on the night of the seventeenth. So far, the results were non-conclusive. Meg wasn’t the kind of person who could fade into the background. Meg was born to stand out- so if she’d taken off on her own accord, someone would’ve seen her.

Understandably, that made Ryan nervous.

“Are you sure you didn’t see her? Like, at all?” Gavin asked, for possibly the hundredth time.

“No.” Ryan lied, for possibly the thousandth. “No. I didn’t see her. I headed out to blow off some steam, nearly sunk my knife in a hobo, decided against it and came home.”

“It does grate on your conscience.” Michael shrugged. Ryan grit his teeth, but nodded silently in agreement. Gavin’s eyes were still suspicious as they lingered on him, but Michael seemed to be on his side and Gavin rarely went against his precious best friend, so he cast his gaze back to his laptop and continued typing.

“Guys!” Geoff walked into the room animatedly, waving his own sleek MacBook in the air. Jack wasn’t close behind him, tugging at the hairs of his beard anxiously. “Look what Lindsay just fucking forwarded me…”

Geoff set his laptop down on the table, knocking Gavin’s out the way and sitting on the couch. One by one, the crew migrated there too, huddling around him. Even Ryan- but he kept his distance, stood far enough back to be alone but close enough to make out the screen as Geoff pulled up his emails and clicked on a file titled _AH-WARNING.mov_

The video filled the screen instantly, and Ryan felt his heart stop.

Meg was in the centre, a thick piece of cloth wrapped around her beaten face to keep between her teeth. She was on a chair of some kind, hands pulled behind her back- but the video was only from the chest up. She was still dressed the way she had left him three nights previous, black and leather bike gear, but the zipper of the jacket had been pulled down slightly and Ryan could make out what looked like little cuts and bruises littering her collarbones.

“Achievement Hunter.” A voice said. “It’s come to our attention that you’ve got a new member. And you didn’t even think to tell _us_ about it!”

A large hand came down, grabbing onto the lifeless greasy strands of Meg’s vibrant hair to pull her head up, forcing her to look down the barrel of the camera. Her eyes were sunken, either from lack of sleep or from bruising alone, and Ryan found that his fists were clenching on their own accord.

“I know that fucking voice.” Michael muttered darkly. “That’s Kovic. This is from _Funhaus_.”

“In case you haven’t guessed already, this is a Funhaus video!” Kovic’s voice continued, as the tiny round orange logo appeared in the centre of the screen, before spinning and flying to the top corner. “We’ve had little _Dolly_ here for three nights after we found her wandering the streets on our side of town. So- we thought we’d have a little fun with her in our Vinewood warehouse!”

“Where the fuck is their Vinewood warehouse?” Jack asked, through gritted teeth.

“Already on it.” Gavin said quietly. His fingers flew across the keyboard of his own laptop, tapping audibly as Kovic continued to monologue and Meg continued to sit, completely silent and stoic as her face was held up.

“She’s… she’s okay, isn’t she?” Michael asked, looking from the screen to Geoff, and then, up to Ryan. “I mean… she’d been trained for interrogation and torture… right?”

“Meg’s tough.” Geoff answered. “She can take it- but as soon as Gavin gets that location, we’re fucking busting her out.”

“I bet you’re just waiting for Gavin to get that location on his little computer so you can all come guns blazing and bust her out!” Kovic said, startling them all. “But let me save you the trouble! Our location is exactly here, on this handy little map that we’ll stick right over pretty little Doll’s busted lip. And- because we’re feeling nice and we’ve _already_ beaten you like the last three times, I’ll give you a deal.”

“Fucking asshole.” Michael muttered as the graphic whirled across the screen and settled itself above Meg’s mouth. Nobody replied. They all kept their eyes fixed on the screen, Jack taking notes of the location and Ryan, silently behind them, drawing his phone and taking a photo of the reference.

“Here’s the deal, dipshits. Since Doll here is the Vagabond’s girl- he can come get her!” Kovic said. Geoff didn’t look away from the screen, but the remaining three turned and craned their necks to stare at Ryan, who was still watching the footage with a stony expression. At the mention of his name, the first glimpse of emotion set across Meg’s features, and her eyes widened panicked into the camera.

“No!” She mumbled around the makeshift gag. “Ryan- don’t come! Don’t!”

Another hand moved down to cover her mouth after that, but Meg continued to struggle, trying to shake him off and bite at his fingers as she screamed, repeatedly. It was muffled, but they could all make an educated guess at what she was crying. _No, Ryan. Don’t come here. It’s not safe._

Ryan gritted his teeth. The video ended and Geoff closed the laptop.

“We should start planning.” Michael stood up first, stuffing his fists into his jacket pockets uncomfortably. “I mean- there’s no _way_ _Funhaus_ will be there themselves, now they know we’re coming. It’ll just be a bunch of nameless thugs. We can take them _if_ we stick together.”

“That’s if she’s even where they say she is.” Jack interjected. “I mean, who says this isn’t all a trap-”

“-And what does it have to do with Ryan?” Gavin asked, turning to look at Ryan with the same suspicious glare. “I mean, Kovic said she was _your girl_. What’s that supposed to mean?”

Even Geoff turned then, locking eyes with Ryan. Ryan didn’t like the way Geoff looked at him, narrowed frown and steely gaze. Geoff looked at him like he _knew_ \- but then, how could he? Ryan certainly hadn’t breathed a word of he and Meg since the moment she had walked into their home.

“No idea.” He lied. “Kovic must have his wires crossed. Meg and I hardly speak- but they obviously want to trap me. I’ll go.”

“There’s no way you’re going alone.” Geoff sighed, pushing the laptop away and standing up. “Tonight, we’ll plan something out. We’ll head and get her tomorrow, middle of the daytime when they’re not expecting it. I will _not_ be made a fool of by fucking _Funhaus_ and I will _not_ let them get away with this for a second. Alright?” he made it sound like he was addressing the crew as a whole, but somehow, Ryan knew that Geoff’s words were only for him.

“Fine.” He said quietly. “Plan. We’ll move out tomorrow.”

Jack and Geoff hurried off to the war room after that, Michael and Gavin heading off to bed with matching concerned expressions not long after. That left Ryan alone in the penthouse- so after a quick check that he had all his important knives and most importantly, his pistol, he quietly pulled his front door keys off the hook and slipped out the door, into the night.

There was no way he was waiting a single fucking second after seeing Meg, tied and beaten by a fucking pathetic excuse of a crew like Funhaus. It was _his_ fault she had been out that night in the first place. If he had been able to get over his fucking ego and personal issues from the beginning, they’d never be in the situation in the first place.

It was all his fault. He had to make it right.


	6. Part Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan will stop at nothing to get her back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, most of this chapter was written before I'd even finished part two! I'm really happy with the way this chapter turned out and I hope you are too.

CHAPTER SIX

 

 

 

Michael had been right- the funhaus boys that Ryan knew where nowhere to be seen in the dusty warehouse-hanger, not far out from the private runways in the back end of the airports. Nameless thugs and goons flanked the place, but they weren’t much of a match for Ryan and his mini-gun. They’d intended it to be a trap, that was obvious by the amount of armed security flanking the place- but they’d underestimated one key factor.

They’d underestimated just how far he’d go to get her back.

One lone chopper stood outside the warehouse once the workforce had been completely and utterly decimated. Ryan eyed it from the top floor of the warehouse as he busted the doors open one by one, calling out for Meg at every step. She didn’t call back but he found her anyway- something in his heart drawing him to the red door in the far corner of the grated balcony. She was sat in the centre, still tied to the chair with her head bowed and for a second- Ryan’s blood ran cool because she looked completely lifeless.

“Ryan?” Meg lifted her head, coughing an ugly red splatter of blood across the floor. Ryan’s heart broke.

“I’m here.” He ran to her, crouching to cut her from her rope ties before circling round to lift her up, carrying her in his arms bridal style. Meg didn’t even have the energy to hang onto him, just laid lifelessly in his grip and closed her eyes, not even flinching when the gunshots from a few random survivors rang out, clipping Ryan in the shoulder and the thigh before he finished them off, hauling her and himself down into the helicopter and taking off shakily.

Ryan couldn’t fly for long as the blood leaked out of him, but decided he was in much better shape than her and landed them in the outskirts of the city. Meg had slept most of the short ride, but when they landed her body jerked awake and she shot up.

“Ryan?” she squinted at him. Ryan had mistaken it for wincing before, but as they climbed from the helicopter he quickly realised that in reality, Meg didn’t have her glasses nor contacts. She couldn’t even make out his face completely- but she had trusted his touch and his voice and allowed him to carry her away. “Oh god, Rye- what happened to you?”

“I got shot a little.” He admitted, stumbling in the field as he tried to lift her again. Meg pushed him backwards as he tried, instead crouching under his arm to try and haul him along with her, out onto the main road.

“You _idiot_.” She said as they hobbled into an abandoned car on the side of the road and she drove them towards the nearest motel. “Why the fuck did you come and get me? I said it was dangerous-  I was handling it.”

Ryan frowned, watching the way she winced as her hands clutched the steering wheel. “You sure?”

“I’m fucking exhausted from having no sleep, sure. I’m a little banged up- but I wasn’t fucking _shot_ Ryan. _Jesus_ \- you’re lucky they didn’t fucking kill you.”

“I had to get you back,” Ryan winced too, holding down firmly to his shoulder with his balled up jacket. “It was my fault you were taken. It was my responsibility to get you back.”

“Do the rest of the crew know?” Meg asked, pulling up in the parking lot of a seedy looking motel that advertised the fact that it rented by the hour. Ryan shook his head, stumbling out of the passenger seat. “No.” he said.

“Of course not.” Meg huffed, sounding like a parent. “They’re not that fucking _stupid_.”

Ryan ignored her. “They wanted to group up and rescue you tomorrow.” He explained. “But I couldn’t wait that long- I couldn’t lay there in bed, knowing that they were hurting you.”

Despite everything, he was sure he could make out the slightest smile on her face.

“I was fine. I could handle it.” She lied. “I didn’t need to you bust in like Bruce Willis and save the day. I had it.”

“Sure you did,” Ryan did his best to smile like the blood hadn’t upgraded from leaking to pouring as they hobbled their way past the abandoned front desk, Meg swiping a key from the back wall and pointing in the direction of the nearest room. “Yeah.” He said, stumbling inside and nearly collapsing in the doorway of the bathroom as his leg began to give out. “You had it.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

It was almost like the old days, as Meg filled the shitty motel bathtub with half a foot of warm water and prompted for him to get undressed and climb in. Suddenly, he had no shame in front of her and stripped down to his boxers before almost falling in, Meg stroking his hair softly before pulling the tiny first aid kit from the bathroom cabinet and grabbing some dental floss that was stood beside it.

“This is going to hurt, but then- I don’t need to tell you that.” She said, handing him a small towel to grip between his teeth. Ryan didn’t reply- he’d lost a fair amount of blood and was starting to feel woozy anyway. In his head, the quicker she stitched him up and hosed him down, the less likely he was to pass away in his sleep. And she was pretty beaten up too- not that she’d let him see. She was still wrapped in her leathers, but Ryan could see the peeking of bruises underneath. Maybe she hadn’t been cut and maybe she hadn’t been shot- but Meg had been hurt, and he still couldn’t shake the feeling that it was all because of him.

Her touches were feather light and the constant prick of the needle and the pull of the thread at his skin kept him from slipping into a dangerous unconsciousness as he laid back in the bath. Thankfully he had only been grazed in the shoulder and the bullet that went into his thigh was shallow and left minimal nerve damage. Meg was no nurse, but they’d done this often enough to know when the ambulance needed to be called and when they could get by with a whiskey miniature and dental floss alone.

After he was repaired, she was content to sit beside him, washing the water continuously over his body until the transparent coloured with brown and red to the point where it was making them both feel queasy. Ryan gripped onto the shower curtain to stand and Meg turned the shower on, before wordlessly slipping out of her own clothes and climbing in shakily beside him.

Ryan looked at her then, stood under the lukewarm spray of the water. She still somehow managed to hide from him when she was almost naked, arms covering her bare chest and her collarbones as best she could so he couldn’t see the black and blue marks underneath. She wasn’t bleeding anywhere profusely, so he knew she wouldn’t die. But it still hurt- seeing her vulnerable. It had been a long time since Ryan had seen Meg be anything close to vulnerable.

Slowly, she leant forwards, resting her face in the centre of his chest. Ryan’s arm came up painfully and wrapped around her narrow back, stroking a hand through her sopping hair gently. He wanted her to cry, to let it all out and tell him it was his fault. But Meg Turney didn’t cry- not anymore. She had grown stronger since the last time they had crossed paths, and not a single tear was shed as they washed the blood and the dirt away before covering themselves again with scratchy motel towels. Meg nodded towards the bedroom door and Ryan obliged, leaving her to have her privacy.

He always had been a gentleman after all.

Ryan climbed into the double bed with no other option than his soaked boxer shorts, which he did his best to ring-dry out of courtesy. Meg wasn’t in the bathroom long, and he closed his eyes tightly until he heard her approach the bed, feeling it shift under her weight.

“Meg.” He breathed, daring to open his eyes and look over to where she sat on the edge of the bed wrapped in the scratchy motel towel, facing away from him. His wounds still ached but he brought himself the strength to shift so he could face her back and reached out hesitantly to touch. She didn’t stop him, which he took as an appropriate time to tell her that he loved her.

“I love you.” He said. “I really, really love you.”

Meg was silent at first, turning around slowly as if on purpose to make his heart wretch. He had forgotten how young she could look, stripped from makeup and fancy leather clothes. He liked her at all times, but he especially liked her like this- bare from every costume and façade she put on in front of the others. Her hair was damp and stringy and her skin tinged pink in splotches from her washed out hair-dye and the burning shower and the days of rope burn.

“Ryan.” She didn’t smile. “Love is for civilians. Don’t be so childish.”

Ryan’s face fell and he rolled back on his back, staring politely at the ceiling as Meg covered herself the bloodied t-shirt she had stripped off of him only hours ago. Then, to his relief, she crawled into the bed and laid flat on her back beside him.

“I mean it.” He said, after minutes of silence. Meg didn’t respond, so he continued. “I fell in love with you and that’s why I left you. I was scared, after The Know and everything that went down there. I was frightened of how far I would go because I loved you.”

Meg didn’t respond, but Ryan knew she was listening. When Meg slept, particularly in places she wasn’t familiar with she would be defensively silent, an old job habit that came from long nights camped outside target’s worlds. Meg slept like she didn’t need the luxury of oxygen. She lived and breathed the job and the life as if they were dioxide.

He could hear her. Quiet breaths escaping her mouth as her body shifted to stay comfortable beside him without giving in to the urge to cuddle up against him.

“And then,” he continued. “I joined the Fake AH Crew. Fell in love with someone else.”

Meg’s breath inhaled just a little too sharply, and Ryan resisted the urge to turn and analyse her exact facial expression. Would she be mad that he had moved on? Happy that he had had his heart broken again? Or would she be simply content that he was there, laid barely a few centimetres away from her confessing how he’s felt for so long.

“You would’ve liked him.” He said. “His name was Ray. I fell in love with Ray and then he left me for the same reasons I left you. We did a job, it got messy and he got scared and then when you came back it reminded me of that. We’re both tiptoeing around each other because we’re heartbroken for the same reasons. The only difference is that it was my fault both times.”

After the admission, Ryan let out a long exhale of breath. It felt like a weight had been lifted from his bruised chest as he told Meg exactly what had been plaguing his mind for so long. And even better, she had listened to him. She was still listening, even now as he said nothing, with her quiet breaths and occasional sniffs. She didn’t reply with words, instead waited for a few minutes until he had almost given up and then chose to turn, rolling her way over to lay her small head against his sternum with her hands tucked underneath her face. Ryan reached down to settle one heavy hand against the back of her neck, and reached up to scratch at the bottom of her damp hair gently. She had always liked that, back when they knew each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments+Kudos appreciated as always!
> 
> HMU on tumblr (asks are open) @ PAPERSK1N.tumblr.com ! I also have a twitter account @PAPERSK1N


	7. Part Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan's dramatic rescue paired with his and Meg's personality transplants have the crew suspicious. However, Meg takes it in her stride. Ryan does as he's told.

“And you were…”

“On my way to meet a friend.” Meg lied effortlessly, locking eyes with Geoff as she wrapped her fingers loosely around the faint rope burn on her wrists. “I was meant to be catching up with an old friend, a guy came out of nowhere and hit me over the head with something blunt. Woke up about a day later tied up in a room in front of a video camera. Just like I said the first five times.” She let out a weak laugh after the last part, but nobody else in the room seemed ready to joke.

“We understand that, Meg.” Jack said. “We just wanted to get all the facts so we could figure out how those Funhaus assholes knew where you’d be.”

“Got lucky, I guess.” She shrugged. Jack and Geoff exchanged a look.

“Are you absolutely _sure_ you can’t tell us who you were meeting?” He asked, for the third time. “It’s just… if you were set up-”

“-she wasn’t set up.” Ryan interrupted from behind them. “I know who she was meeting, personally. They’re staying confidential for a reason.”

Geoff sighed. “Alright, fine.” He sat back in his chair, and looked back to Meg. “As you wish. I’m so happy you’re alright, Meg. I really am.”

“Me too.” Meg smiled, weakly. “Thank Ryan for that.”

“We do.” Jack swivelled around, looking to Ryan with an unreadable expression. “He really saved the day, didn’t he?”

Ryan ignored the suspicious glances he was thrown throughout the rest of the evening, as the crew ordered pizza and relaxed together, whole again for the first time since Meg was gone. He didn’t care much for what they thought, because Meg was laid in his arms, watching the TV silently, but holding his hand tightly.

“Come to bed with me?” she asked quietly, later when everyone else, one by one had disappeared off to their rooms. “I don’t want to sleep alone.”

A more clever part of Ryan, buried away in the back of his head thought perhaps to tell her no, to get into his own bed and be happy that they were at least friends. However, the giant fucking softie part overpowered the rationale easily, chaining him up and knocking him out until before he knew it, Meg was kissing him softly and quietly with her hands wrapped around his shoulders.

“I’ve missed this.” He admitted, kicking himself as soon as he did. Meg nuzzled into the crook of his neck.

“Me too.” She said. “I’ve missed you, Ryan.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Clearly, their sudden transition from bitter enemies into best friends was a little confusing for the rest of the crew to handle.

They didn’t make it too obvious, or at least Ryan hoped not with the amount of effort it took every day not to kiss her soft lips and cup her face everywhere they went. Instead he settled for friendly displays of affection, like sitting beside each other on the couch or talking quietly when they hoped the others couldn’t overhear. It was nothing that Michael and Gavin didn’t do- but with the looks they received from the rest of the crew, they may as well have been having regular sex on the kitchen table.

“How long exactly _have_ you two known each other then?” Gavin questioned one night when the family were sat around the living room, a game of cards against humanity abandoned in favour for drinks and Indian food between them.

Meg looked up at Ryan, who stared back at her and smiled. _Go ahead._

“A while,” she said. “We used to work together, years and years ago. We were friends.”

“Right.” Gavin nodded, eyeing them both narrowly, like he didn’t believe their story for a second. Ryan couldn’t really blame him, what with their sudden personality transplants and ominous vague past that nobody else had ever heard of before.

But despite how vague and sudden it all was- it was the truth. It had taken Meg’s kidnapping to draw it out, which was a little more extreme than Ryan had ever hoped, but their past was real and it was looming. Every moment he spent with Meg, he remembered something else they had done together. Places they’d been, things they’d seen. How could he have ever forgotten that Meg was handy with a javelin, and how couldn’t she have remembered the time she twisted her ankle at a bar and he had to carry her all the way home?

The crew had their suspicions, which was understandable, but Meg seemed to take it in her stride. Ryan was the one who awkwardly brushed off prying questions with stumbled through, half-assed explanations. Meg lied so effortlessly, half the time he had to seriously wrack his brains in attempt to recall the false memories of their _friendship_ because they sounded so completely possible.

“Right then kids.” Geoff said suddenly, starting Ryan out of his deep though. He had flinched slightly, nobody noticing expect for Meg, who was laid back against his chest. She turned around and raised a perfectly plucked brow, a silent question of _you okay?_ To which Ryan nodded quickly, tearing his attention away from her face to Geoff’s.

“Heist is tomorrow.” Their boss explained. “We’ve been working towards this one for a long time, and yeah… there’s been a few bumps in the road.” he eyed Meg for a few extra seconds after that one, and Ryan watched with his lip between his teeth as she looked away, toward the floor. “But, we figured it out in the end. As we always do. So… good luck and all that shit, I suppose. Get some fucking sleep tonight, we start at two PM tomorrow. And that’s fucking _exactly_ 2 pm.” He glared in Gavin’s direction. “No excuse for tardiness.”

“What?!”

“ _Wot!”_ Michael parroted, grinning as Gavin punched him weakly in the arm. Ryan rolled his eyes with a bitter fondness as the two began to scrap, Geoff and Jack leaving the room- likely to flesh out more last minute details. Meg surprised him by sitting up, turning to face him.

“Wanna go for a drive?” she asked quietly.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Ryan’s Zentorno was his pride and joy. It was the first supercar he’d ever owned, and had stuck with him over the years through endless crashes and Gavin-related accidents. He’d probably payed for it twice over with the amount he’d spent on repairs, but it was worth it for the sentimentality.

After that time Michael had driven it off the pier, Ryan was the _only_ one who _ever_ got to drive the Zentorno. He knew how she handled, knew her limits. He wasn’t driving her off of any high-structures anytime soon.

Meg usually found her way into his ‘rules’.

She was grinning, wind whipping through the rolled down windows and carrying her hair in a vibrant stream of red as they raced up through the streets, out of the core city and up towards the outskirts. They weren’t far from where he’d shakily landed the helicopter the night he rescued her, and something lurched in Ryan’s chest when he noticed the faded bruising around her wrists for the fifth time that night.

Meg was oblivious to his scrutiny- or at least was pretending to be as she cheered, fingers wrapped tightly around the wheel as the car flew. She could go faster- but Meg had never been interested in speed. Meg wanted to fly- not to race.

And the car flew beneath her. She handled it perfectly, arguably better than Ryan ever could as they drove in a comfortable mutual silence of cheering and the quiet hum of the radio. Eventually, she decided she had had enough and pulled up, just behind the _Vinewood_ sign.

“How did you even get up here?” Ryan asked, laughing briefly when he realised he hadn’t been paying attention to their route at all, far too fixated on watching her.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Guess I still remembered a few short cuts from last time I was in the city.”

Before he had the chance to ask her what she meant, Meg had slipped her seatbelt off and crossed the threshold of the passenger seat to slip herself into his lap, kissing him gently on the lips. Ryan wrapped his arms around her waist, and held them close together.

“We could die tomorrow.” She said quietly, as his lips ghosted across her neck.

“Better make this count then.” He replied.

 


	8. Part Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> LLLLLLLLLET'S HEIST!

 

 

“ _Vagabond, Report! Vagabond- fucking report Ryan, you asshole!”_

“ _Boss_.” Ryan touched his earpiece, leaning around the side of the bank and aiming his gun at a nearby cop car. “ _I’m still here. Getaway vehicle pending.”_

 _“I’m on my way_.” He heard Meg’s voice, steely and steady. She had always worked best under pressure. “ _Eta, three- maybe four minutes? Copy that?”_

 _“Copy that.”_ More gunfire. _“But I’d prefer the three.”_

Underneath the buzz of the static, he heard her laugh softly. _“I’ll be there. Just focus on not getting shot, please?”_

_“Copy that.”_

_“Flirt on your own time!”_ Geoff snapped. _“Beardo and I have got the cash and we’re in the boat. Gavin, Michael and Lindsay are still dicking about in the helicopter, but they’re giving good cover fire. You two just get down to the meeting point as soon as possible and don’t fucking die.”_

 _“Copy that.”_ Ryan repeated. _“In fact, I think I can hear a certain doll pulling up behind me.”_

“You’d be correct.” Meg smiled, tossing him a helmet. She had pulled up at the end of the alleyway, toes barely skimming the ground as she attempted to stay upright on the giant, sleek bike. Ryan knew however not to be fooled- she handled the vehicle like it had been made for her. Meg had never let something as unavoidable as height stop her from mastering every possible weapon or vehicle she could lay her hands on.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer!” she yelled, snapping him back into action. On a heist, Ryan’s body often worked on autopilot. He reached up and tugged his mask off in favour of the black helmet Meg had tossed him, pulling the tinted visor over his face as she did the same. He hopped on the back of the bike and swiftly reloaded his gun, before something caught his eye in Meg’s back pocket.

“Is that a grenade in your pocket or am I just happy to see you?” he asked, fingers stroking over her ass. Meg leant forwards with a chuckle, half in preparation to launch the bike and half to give him better access. The grenade was small, but it’d do the job against the swarm of cop cars gathering in the other end of the alley.

“Give ‘em hell, Rye.”

He pulled the pin and tossed the grenade into the clusterfuck, raising his hand and giving the signal to their recent hire- a new sniper by the name of _Jeremy_ , who was posted in the building opposite the bank. He wasn’t as good as Ray- _nobody_ was as good as Ray, but the kid was pretty handy with a rifle. Ryan’d give him that.

The bike purred as Meg shot them out of the alley and directly onto the freeway, the pair of them leaning together as they weaved between cars. Ryan wasn’t paying much attention to the stretch of road in front of them, he was far too busy aiming his shots behind. It hadn’t been their intention to gain this much attention from the LSPD- but then, when did one of their Heists ever go off without a hitch?

His finger stuttered on the trigger as the bike swerved slightly, nearly bumping a dodge minivan before skirting around it at the last second. Half-concerned, Ryan glanced at Meg for a second.

“You okay?”

“’m fine.” She mumbled, still leant forwards over the handlebars. Something in Ryan told him not to believe her for a second, but he didn’t have the time to check her claims when the police were still shooting them from behind and he was slowly running low on bullets.

“ _We’re not far.”_ He attempted to sound encouraging over the comms, but a worried eye was still trained on Meg. Her breathing seemed to have increased in pace, and they continued veering off towards cars on the road. her focus had been shifted by something, but he couldn’t quite figure out what. “ _Really need that cover fire, though._ ”

 _“We’re on it Rye!”_ Gavin replied, cheerily. Feeling somewhat safer as the whirring of the cargobob’s blades approached from behind them, firing gunshots to the ground, Ryan turned his attention back to Meg.

“Are you alright?” he asked again, noticing how white her knuckles were becoming against the bikes handlebars.

She mumbled something in response, but it was illegible as her head dipped forwards, hanging frighteningly limp on her neck as the bike swerved again, clipping against the side of a four-door ford focus.

“Meg.” He reached forwards to touch her waist, but drew back instantly when he felt something wet at her side. Ryan pulled his hand up to his face, lifting the visor of the helmet.

It was blood.

“Meg!” he yelled as her body went limper, and the bike veered off to the side of the freeway before clipping the railings that ran across the edges of the bridge. The bike fell with both of them on it, Ryan rolling on instinct away from the impact of the fence. Meg, still somewhat conscious did her best to attempt the same, but ended up instead sprawled out on beside the bike, against the rails.

“Fuck!” Ryan yelled, a burning pain in his wrist as he pulled the trigger of his gun, blasting the nearby police officers. The sky team seemed to have most of them subdued, but a few were edging closer by the second. Meg was barely moving, helmet cracked from where it had smacked the ground and leather jacket ripped through by the bullet that had struck her side, causing the blood to pour from her body.

_“Vagabond? What’s going on up there?”_

_“Meg’s been shot!”_ Ryan’s voice sounded foreign, even to himself. He never lost his cool on a heist, even when things got hairy- but then, he was crouched on the floor trying to shield Meg’s body from any more bullets as the bike smoked and ticked beside them both. It wouldn’t be long until the vehicle became its own grenade, smoke billowing in the direction of the water. _“Fuck, someone needs to get here now! Meg’s been shot!”_

 _“We’re on it!”_ a voice that could’ve been Lindsay’s, could’ve been Michael’s, could’ve been Geoff’s yelled back. Ryan wasn’t listening anymore as he crawled over to Meg, pulling the helmet from her head and cradling her face in his lap. “Meg, stay with me.” he pleaded, rolling her face around. Her glasses were cracked, and gently, he removed them, stroking the side of her cheek with his calloused hands. “Meg, please. Open your eyes, something!”

“Ryan?” she mumbled. “Fuck- what are you doing?”

“We crashed.” He bit his lip, panicked as he glanced over to the herd of cop cars that were still approaching. Thankfully they’d been far enough away when they crashed that the cargobob could take most of them out, but now, the mission had changed. It was intended to be a rescue, but Lindsay was leading the cops right towards them. “Fuck, Meg- you got shot. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Why are you here?” she asked. “Ryan- just go. You won’t survive laying on the side of the road with me. I’m done for- just go!”

“I’m not leaving you! Are you crazy?”

_“Team Cargo-Bob is landing but- you’ll have to be quick! My aims not really that good this close and the cops are probably going to shoot you in the next thirty seconds.”_

“Fuck!” Ryan struggled to his feet, having to toss his gun in order to lift Meg into his arms. She fought him as best as she could, screaming for him to leave her rather than have them both die- but he wasn’t going to listen to that. “I’m not leaving you.” He repeated, taking off into a sprint. They were in plain sight of the cops, but the chopper was barely ten feet away. He just had to last that long.

“I’m sorry.” Meg whimpered.

“Don’t be.” Ryan held her tighter, if that was possible. “Don’t ever be sorry.”

He ran into the chopper as it was already taking off, having to throw Meg in above him before grabbing onto the landing skids and using a seething mixture of adrenaline and upper body strength to haul himself inside. A bullet grazed past his ankle, but thankfully, wasn’t close enough to penetrate. Ryan rolled into the chopper, laid flat on his back besides Meg and looked up into the sea-foam green eyes of Gavin Free.

“Got yourselves into a right pickle there, didn’t you?”

“Fuck, Meg!” Ryan used the last of his strength to roll over and hover above her. She was sprawled out on her back as Gavin worked around them, reaching over to unzip her jacket and cut through her T-shirt to tend to the wound as Ryan grabbed onto her face and rested their foreheads together. “Jesus. Don’t ever scare me like that again.”

“I’m sorry.” She coughed. “I’m so sorry Ryan. You almost died. I’m sorry.”

“ _You_ almost died!”

She smiled, but the pain was evident in her furrowed brow. “I’m expendable.” Meg said, and the faint sigh in her voice broke Ryan’s heart instantly- because she _believed_ it. “I’m just a gun for hire. You’ve got… this whole fucking _crew_ who’d miss you. I can’t be the reason they lost their vagabond.”

“Nobody’s lost me.” He said, pressing kisses into her face, across every square inch of skin. “Meg, don’t ever fucking do that again. You get hurt- you fucking _say something_. We all care about you.” He brushed her hair, damp with sweat, from her forehead. “And nobody more than me. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”

“This is nice and all, but if you don’t mind out Rye- you might still if you don’t shift so I can treat her.” Gavin smiled awkwardly, pushing Ryan away so he could reach the wound on Meg’s side. “But for the record- I totally knew the two of you were banging.”

“Lindsay owes me forty bucks!” Michael pitched in from the driver’s seat, where he was co-piloting.

“I just couldn’t picture it.” Lindsay herself shrugged. “You’re so… _small_ and Rye’s so _big_. How does it fit?”

“Jesus Lindsay!” Ryan blushed pink as Meg laughed softly beside him. Gavin wiping antiseptic around her stomach with an amused grin as he began stitching.

“Ryan likes ‘em small. He’s got such a size kink.” Gavin teased, completely relaxed as he stopped the rapid flow of blood from exiting Meg’s body. “Ray was tiny too, remember? And they’d go at it like _rabbits_.” He mused.

“Could we maybe focus on something else other than my sex life?” Ryan pleaded. “Like, y’know- escaping? Meg?”

“Rodger that.” Lindsay saluted. “ _Copy all that, Geoff?”_

 _“We copy.”_ Geoff sounded exhausted, but relieved over the comms, which played out loud throughout the helicopter. _“I hate you all, by the way. I’m glad you’re safe”_

Ryan smiled, looking over at Meg. She had her eyes closed tightly as Gavin worked quickly at her side, but when he reached over and held her hand tightly, she smiled.

“We love you too Geoff.” He called. “All of us.”

“ _Alright.”_ Geoff’s voice buzzed, setting a gentle hum through the helicopter as they flew higher and higher, the police force growing further and further away from them all. _“Don’t make it gay.”_

 

 

_FIN_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of it for this fic! I hope you all enjoyed every single chapter, and any comments / kudos will be much appreciated. And who knows, maybe this will be the next of my turnwood fics Meg decides to read and tell Ryan about on stream, lmao.
> 
> HMU on tumblr (asks are open) @ PAPERSK1N.tumblr.com , check out my twitter @PAPERSK1N or simply drop a comment if you have any questions or comments about this fic! Love to you all !

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Please, drop some kudos and maybe even a comment if you did! And, as always, HMU on Tumblr- PAPERSK1N.tumblr.com
> 
> Q: What do you think of Meg and Ryan's mysterious past? How long until the crew grow suspicious?


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